My baby was fine in a 5g tank right when I brought her home. Just make sure if theres a filter in the tank that theres a pre-filter sponge on the intake so the baby doesnt get sucked into the filter. Also the water current should be very minimal so the baby has no difficulty swimming.

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Originally Posted by graciecny

I got sucked into the Petco baby betta vortex two days ago and have spent the last two days trying to figure out how to keep this little fish going. Thanks to all who have posted info in this thread! It was really helpful, and I actually ended up reading the entire thing (thank goodness for that computer at work - LOL!).

My baby is still in his cup that he came in, but I'm planning on changing the water each evening (should it be 100% change?). I know keeping him in that tiny cup isn't good, but I need to get him a tank and I haven't been able to do so yet. If you were going out and buying a tank for one fish, what would you suggest (feel free to go wild with "dream setups" but please keep in mind my budget may not allow for that!)? I was considering the "all in one" desktop kits, but my past experience with that kind of stuff makes me worry it would be best to buy individual items of higher quality instead of the kit.

Also, for food - are the betta pellets or flakes necessary, or can he get by on thawed brine shrimp and bloodworms for now? I bought the smallest betta pellets I could find (API brand) and I think he/she ate a couple of them, but mostly he/she sucks them in and spits them back out. A few of the brine shrimp bits and a teensy piece of bloodworm did get eaten, at least.

Thank you for any advice - this is my first betta, but I've always wanted one. If this little thing makes it, it'll be a lot of fun to see him/her grow!

Keeping a baby in a cup is not ideal mostly because you cannot heat a small cup of water easily to the ideal temp of 82-84 F for a baby. Also water changes should be 100% daily but acclimating the baby every day to new water could get annoying. Usually buying the kits is cheaper for tanks 10 gallons and under (unless you already have pieces of the setup). Kits cost around $30 and range in size from 2gal to 10gal. A tank under 5 gallons is more work in the long-run because it will need two water changes weekly of at least 50%. A tank 5 gallons or more can hold a stable cycle with a filter and once it is established will require only one water change per week of 30-50%. At first my baby didn't eat any pellets and would only eat frozen bloodworms/brine shrimp but eventually she started eating pellets through the pipette I was feeding her with. I think she just assumed anything that came out of the pipette was delicious food because thats how I fed her the frozen foods.

Keeping a baby in a cup is not ideal mostly because you cannot heat a small cup of water easily to the ideal temp of 82-84 F for a baby. Also water changes should be 100% daily but acclimating the baby every day to new water could get annoying. Usually buying the kits is cheaper for tanks 10 gallons and under (unless you already have pieces of the setup). Kits cost around $30 and range in size from 2gal to 10gal. A tank under 5 gallons is more work in the long-run because it will need two water changes weekly of at least 50%. A tank 5 gallons or more can hold a stable cycle with a filter and once it is established will require only one water change per week of 30-50%. At first my baby didn't eat any pellets and would only eat frozen bloodworms/brine shrimp but eventually she started eating pellets through the pipette I was feeding her with. I think she just assumed anything that came out of the pipette was delicious food because thats how I fed her the frozen foods.

Thank you for your response! I should have mentioned that I currrently have the baby betta cup floating in my community tank - the water is only in the high 70's, but it is the best I can do at the moment. By floating a second cup of clean water in the tank, I can at least make sure the new and old water are both at the same temp.

I really want to get him/her a tank with a filter, and one large enough to cycle. I think I can cut the cycling time (please tell me if I'm wrong) by using some of the media from the community tank, so the little fella won't have to deal with the ammonia/ammonium and nitrite spikes, or a long wait while I do a fish-less cycle on the tank. Are the Fluval kits decent? I've looked at those, and I've also seen an Eheim that looked gorgeous, but it was $$$$$! I think it was the Aquastyle, maybe a 6 gallon. I know I need a heater, so I also need to know how to size that, and are there any brands in particular that are small and adjustable as far as temp? Our household temp runs from the low 60's to 70-ish at the highest, so I'm going to need a workhorse of a heater (the one in the community tank is a bit oversized for that reason too).

I'm having my hubby bring home some pipets from work today or tomorrow so I can start using them to feed with. Right now, I'm using a toothpick (blunt one) to scoop up a small brine shrimp and feeding them one by one. Yeah, I'm pretty much an idiot. Still, it seemed better than flooding the tank with more than he could eat. Earlier I dropped a couple in and went back a bit later and siphoned off what was left over with a straw so it wouldn't foul the water. This guy is *way* more work than his "free" tankmates.

Speaking of which, I've debated just letting him out into the big tank (it is a fairly heavily planted tank with driftwood and rocks - lots and lots of hidey-holes, but I have a couple juvenile (nickel to quarter size bodies) Angelfish that are a leeetle too interested in him for my comfort. The other fish are some amande tetra (6), robin gourami (3) and a chinese algae eater. Am I right to think he'd have trouble let loose to compete with all those guys, both for food and territory?

Mashiro, the color on your baby is gorgeous! I'm really enjoying the images people are posting. I can't see mine coloring up to be anything crazy, but she's cute all and the same. I have to admit to going back and pondering some of the other babies, but I can't do more than one other and I'd REALLY like a male, so it's probably better not to roll the dice.

FWIW, how many of your babies have ended up being boys versus girls? Straw poll anyone?

My little one is now in a breeder floating in my community tank. I've added some small floating plants and one little plant anchored to a tiny pebble to give her some cover (my angels are always giving her the "I'd really like to eat you" look). I added a photo to my avatar - she's not nearly as colorful as the ones I've seen here.

My girl Capote was bought in mid December. I'm new to fish, so didn't realize that buying a fry was not always a good thing. She started to gt some reds and blues earlier this month. Once I realized that she should be in a heated tank, her color became more vibrant, as did her activity, though she seems to prefer to stay under the cover of her plant.

I chose to go with a fry because the adults didn't appear all that healthy to me. Ragged fins, poor color, low activity. She's been a fun roommate!

Well I found an amazing petco about an hour from my house yesterday (by amazing I mean the amount of supplies they have versus the care level) and stopped in on the way home from taking my sister back to school. I wasn't intending to get more than a bag of gravel and ended up with a bag of gravel, box of dog treats, a male double tail betta (couldn't leave without him), and three baby bettas. Right now they're in my 36 gallon bow front with my female hiding under the driftwood. I can't believe how tiny they are. They can't be more than half an inch long.